Sir Ivanhoe vs Opponent - Team 4545 League Play

Round 5 of T49 has found the Knights of Ni in a position to win a playoff spot with any match points earned in the last 2 rounds of regular play. My teammate had been thwarted in our first game of the round, so I especially had an incentive to pitch hard for a win in my matchup.

Knights Duelling, by Eugène Delacroix

I thought that I might try and offer an Urusov Gambit via Ponziani's 3.d4 in the Bishop's Opening for the first time in slow play and put up with Two Knights Defense lines if my opponent went that way. I had observed that my opponent was practicing Philidor lines against 1.e4 in recent games, so I made a point of researching and analyzing positions involving setups with d6, especially the night before the game.

I was rewarded with 3... d6, a move which I knew to be a mistake and that I knew how to take advantage of. But having secured extra material, I was reminded that league players usually play their toughest when they are down material. And so I kept my eye open for another tactical opportunity, hoping to avoid a long slog through an endgame.